A FEW THINGS I HAVE OBSERVED.
By D. H. KRESS
God does not place men in positions of trust because of their agreeableness, or because they are faultless; but because of their adaptation for the work that needs to be done, and their willingness to work. We must not look for perfection in the human agent, and allow the lack of it to become a stumbling-block in our way. Many have been shipwrecked on this rock. We are a nation of defectives. All have sinned, and come short somewhere. You may behold the mote in your brother’s eye, and not discern the beam in your own. Do not, therefore, cast a stone at another until you are sure you are without fault yourself; for with the same measure you mete, others will measure to you again. “Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” By the time you get rid of the beam, the mote will have vanished. When we see a poor cripple with one leg shorter than the other, trying against odds and difficulties to make his way in life, we do not feel like censuring him, or like finding fault with a defect for which he is not responsible. Instead, a feeling of pity arises in our breasts. We say that this man is not to blame, and do our utmost to help him. This is right: “Support the weak.” Many, yes, all, are born with mental defects, which are just as real and just as conspicuous, perhaps not to themselves, but to on-lookers. In every man the brain structure is defective at some point; every one has a weak spot,—a short mental leg, so to speak,—for which he is not responsible. Is not the man who is crippled mentally as much an object of compassion and pity, and in as great need of our sympathy and help, yes, more, than the one who has a crippled leg? Yet the world, and even professed Christians, sometimes pity the one, but severely condemn the other. One they assist and support, the other they ruthlessly thrust down and condemn. He is not given a chance because some weak point has been discovered in him. Christianity can not treat mankind in this way. “God’s ways are equal.” The question may be asked of those who were born with mental defects, “Who did sin, this man or his parents?” The answer comes, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God [compassion and help] should be made manifest in him.” Christ helped the man who was born blind, while others were criticising him, discussing which was the chief sinner—the man before them or his parents. Not long ago I noticed an unusually fine-appearing man sitting on a bench at a railway station, waiting for a train. When the train arrived, he arose. I then discovered that he was a cripple. Defects are not always conspicuous. As long as a man sits quietly and does nothing, men look at him, and say, What a good man! But when God places his Spirit in the man, and the dead bones begin to live and move, every defect is revealed. So men who are most active, to whom God has given the most important work, appear the most defective, and are held up to censure. “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart.” The one who is virtually dead, and does nothing, is called a good man, while the man who does the most good is called wicked. Inactivity in a child is evidence of disease or idiocy. “Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you.” What we need to-day is brother helpers. We should not close our eyes to defects in others. God often reveals to us the defects of others, especially of the leaders in different branches of our work, not to give us a topic for conversation, but that, like Aaron and Hur, we may hold up their hands by strengthening their weak points with our prayers. Charity covereth the multitude of sins. The time has come for God to make bare his arm in the sight of all the nations. The people, even the isles, are waiting for his law. He seeks co-operation. In unity there is strength. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”